Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

Visited for a mid-week lunch. The decor is a bit gentleman's club and the atmosphere is bit lacking to start with, but once the dining room had filled up, things improved. Had the set lunch menu. Mackerel starter was a bit disappointing, but the rest was superb. The pork belly was delicious and Marcus' baked custard tart lived up to expectations. The tart was served with a strawberry ice-cream, which didn't seem to go with the tart that well, but who cares, both tart and ice cream were delicious. We were served 4 amuse-bouches. I've been avoiding fois-gras all my life, but given I was in Marcus', I thought I might as well give it a go - didn't taste of anything really - could have been a chunk of butter! Service was excellent. Avoid the trolleys that come along (champagne, brandy, cheese) if you don't want to double your bill.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, June 27, 2009

MADE THE MISTAKE OF BOOKING THIS PLACE FOR MY WIFE'S BIRTHDAY. I CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I HAD A REALLY BAD MEAL IN THIS PRICE RANGE ...BUT HERE IT IS.

ON SATURDAY 20/6/2009 WE HAD THE FOLLOWING MEAL.

FOIE GRAS TO START, VERY LITTLE FLAVOUR AND IMAGINATION...THEY GOT IT SPECTACULARLY WRONG.

SUCKLING PIG FOR MAIN, 90% FAT (NOT CRACKLING). OFFICIALLY THE SMALLEST, MOST BORING PIECE OF MEAT I HAVE EVER HAD , MY WIFE'S BEEF WAS EQUALLY SMALL AND TASTELESS.

CHEESE BOARD, VERY GOOD, BUT ANY RESTAURANT CAN GIVE YOU SOMEBODY ELSE'S DELICIOUS CHEESE!

HAD THE PANNA COTTA FOR DESERT. IT WAS REVOLTING. STRANGELY THE COFFEE WAS EXCELLENT.

SO, TO SUM UP, PORTIONS ARE NOUVELLE CUISINE (LIKE SOME 80'S JOINT) AND VERY LITTLE FLAVOUR. THIS PLACE IS THE EMPERORS NEW CLOTHS PERSONIFIED. WE GIVE THIS PLACE A 10/10 FOR BEING COMPLETELY OVERRATED.
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H DALY
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Four of us went to Marcus Wareing for lunch the other day and our high expections were disappointed. Elements of most dishes were excellent but, as a whole, the food was merely good and not of the standard we were expecting.

The atmosphere of the place and the restaurant's decor are something special but the excellent staff were let down by one very brusque and disinterested waiter. We were told that Marcus was briefing his brigade after service so I hope a gee-up was administered.

We left with the distinct impression that choosing the set lunch option relegates you to the safe and unexciting dishes, and that the big money gets you the big flavours. I might add that that is certainly not the case at The Square.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, June 08, 2009

My wife Marilyn and I went for lunch on 27th April for my birthday. It became 3 hours of pure culinary heaven! We chose the £90 tasting menu, which seems expensive but with amuse bouche and extras is about 10 courses actually. To get the taste buds going we had crisp foie gras and some hoummus with croutons followed by a shot glass of creamed sweetcorn soup with tarragon foam. The tasting menu itself was simply fantastic and ranged from pan fried foie gras (incredible taste) to honey soused sardines, roast quail, a huge scottish scallop with matelote sauce, cumbrian lamb or Anjou pigeon then a sorbet pre dessert (I also had an extra pre dessert for my birthday) and finally a warm chocolate moelleux or granny smith apple creme.The whole menu was a fantastic tasting experience.

Marcus sent me through a signed menu, but had left when we visited the kitchen after lunch and met the Head Chef and his young brigade. The waiting staff were very friendly,approachable and not stuffy at all. A huge selection on the wine lists - with many very reasonable around the £30-35 mark. The burgundy decor was perfect - I would imagine at dinner it would be very warming & intimate.

A fantastic experience I would highly recommend. Thank you Marcus & Team
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Trevor Banthorpe
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

As far as good food, wine and service goes this place is without doubt the best place in London at the moment.

Easter Monday Lunch at the Berkeley for 2 people. We started with a glass of Champagne from the Champagne trolley, served water and some little canapes to begin. We choose from the Lunch menu @ 3 courses for £35. We found a good bottle of unoaked Chardonnay on the list for £35 and then received a beautiful little shot glass full of sweetcorn soup before our starters arrived. One note on the winelist if you want to splash out you can but there was a lot of choice around the £30 mark.

Starters were very good with the quail being the highlight, as was the poached chicken with asparagus for main course.

We then opted for an additional cheese course (the choice looked to good to refuse) for £10 per head and had a half bottle of Fleurie.

Then came a pre dessert of jelly with something that I now cannot remember.

Next was dessert and all I can say is I can now see why everyone raved about Marcus's custard tart. Excellent pastry and a lovely light custard filling. Went well with a glass of pudding wine. And at the very end you get the Bonbon trolley, by far the best petit fours I've had in London.

All in all the food was top notch and this is only the second restaurant were I would give 10 out of 10 for food in London.

As for the service it was everything you would expect from a two star restaurant yet slightly less formal and more relaxed. For me this is a plus point and for near four hours I never felt rushed at all.

A tour of the kitchen ended the meal and in this day an age of celeb chefs it was nice to see the name on the door also in the kitchen on a Monday afternoon, with time for a few words with his customers.

If I have to pick one negative it would be I found the cost of a small espresso, £5 a little high.

Apart from that £220 for two people for all that we ate and drank was the bargain of the year so far.

And a special thank you to James the sommelier for looking after us so well.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, April 16, 2009

WOW! The best restaurant in town by a country mile! Who is Gordon Ramsay?? Marcus Wareing is a genius. Every single mouthful was a delight, I'm still enjoying it 4 days later!

It is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but it is worth every single penny. I had the taster menu and each one of the 8 courses hit the mark.

The fact that we got to meet the great man himself made a special evening amazing!
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Muttipj
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Three hours of exquisite food, cheerful and helpful service and meeting Marcus Wareing himself was the perfect ending to the most wonderful evening. No table-turning, which was one of the main reasons we picked this restaurant for my birthday. I recommend this restaurant before any other if you are looking for a night of treats!!!
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Krisztina
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 06, 2009

Every year we visit a London restaurant for our anniversary and usually avoid TV chefs. However, I'm extremely glad we chose Marcus Wareing at the Berkely as it was the best meal we've ever had. We had the tasting menu and asked the sommelier to choose wines to accompany the key dishes.

The food was exquisite. From the canapes on arrival to the chocolate dessert everything tasted fantastic, melted in the mouth and left us more than satisfied. They remembered my wife's wheat intolerance and gave her a separate tasting menu, bread and canapes and were more than happy to amend a course to include the foie gras she wanted.

The wines and port chosen were very good and complemented the courses well. Overall, the food and drink on it's own would have made this a great meal. However, it was the service that made it truly memorable.

When we arrived the head waiter was professionel yet charming and smiley - immediately dispelling any concerns about stuffiness. Throughout the meal all the waiting staff were very attentive, the service was slick and they struck the right balance between professionalism and friendliness.

They also either overheard (or we'd forgotten we'd mentioned it 3 months earlier when booking) that it was our anniversary. So we were very pleasantly surprised to be asked if we'd like a tour of the kitchen before coffee! The tour was a super touch - we chatted with the diners on the chef's table and got the low-down from the chef (not Marcus) on how to make baked potato foam. After coffee they also brought out a beautiful plate of small treats with 'Happy Anniversary' written in sauce.

Overall we both left with one word in mind - pampered! The constant stream of treats, the amazing quality of food and impeccable service made it the best meal we've had - for me narrowly beating The Square a couple of years ago and Chez Bruce before that and for my wife the service was better than the Ivy many years ago which was her favourite.

It was the most expensive meal I've eaten and worth every penny.
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DavidM
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, March 01, 2009

Food from Heaven, simply equisite, thoroughly spoilt and pampered for three hours. Worth every penny.
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andrew
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, January 29, 2009

Dining here, was without doubt, the best meal if not evening that we have ever had! We visited for our anniversary one Wednesday in January.

We were given a warm welcome, our coats taken and as soon as we were shown to our table and sat down, the trolley arrived with different champagnes to choose from, (no prices although we could have asked). Neither of us were expecting this, so we hastily agreed to a glass although if I had been expecting it I would have declined, (since we'd already had a glass at home!). We asked for still water although I would have no problem asking for tap water if I went again.

We had 3 different amouse bouche which were all divine. The tasting menu courses were nothing less than well and truly amazing and worth every penny - without doubt the best food I have ever tasted in my life. The first course was foie gras accompanied by a sweet hazelnut and jelly, which I think overpowered the foie gras, but my partner liked it so it was probably just my palate. The rest of the courses, the scallop, the monkfish, the quail, the lamb, (my partner had venison), the cheeses, the desserts were nothing less than perfect - beautifully cooked. I had always been dubious about spending a huge amount of money on food since I was never sure that it would be worth it, I mean how nice can food get? These courses really transformed my thinking, they really did blow me away! The ingredients, the flavours, the textures, all beautifully presented in each course, went together so well - I felt that I had died and gone to heaven! I couldn't believe that each course I had was as good if not better than the last. It really was a fantastic gastronomic experience.

The cheese trolley was fabulous - a huge selection! We had one plate of a selection of cheeses to share which came with a selection of crackers/biscuits and quince jelly. We finished with coffees and a selection of different chocolate truffles which were gorgeous. We left on a high, having had such a great evening and were absolutely stuffed.

Most wines bottles are priced at 3-4 times what you would pay for at retail which is normal but which always dissuades me from spending a lot on a bottle. We went for the tasting menu with a selection of wines by the glass to accompany the courses chosen by our sommelier. We didn't go for a different wine for each course which would have been 8 glasses (around £80 each) but I think we ended up with 5 in total which worked out to be cheaper although still quite expensive. The wines were generously poured in the suitable glasses. They were good measures and I was tipsy by the second glass! (Good thing I didn't go for 8 glasses, otherwise I would have been hammered!). If I went again, I would probably go for less wines, only because sometimes, between enjoying my food, and talking to my partner, I was struggling to drink my glass before the next glass arrived and probably didn't take my time to enjoy each wine as much as I should have done since I was rushing to drink them towards the end. Great experience tho and it was nice to have good wine to complement the food well.

Service was impeccable - very smooth. The waiters really knew what they were doing and were very friendly, attentive, relaxed and helpful. The only comment I could make was that my partner had to wait more than 2 minutes after he had finished his bread before the waiter, who came round regularly with the bread basket, came around to ask him if he wanted more, but he quickly came over when another waiter noticed that my partner's side plate was empty. Of course in most restaurants you wouldn't have batted an eye lid but because the service was so fantastic we found it quite amusing!

The place was sumptuously decorated and the restaurant is much smaller than I was expecting and beautifully laid out. Gorgeous good size round tables with incredibly comfortable chairs are arranged so that couples are sitting close together facing the restaurant which is nice. The ambience was buzzing, all the other customers (an equal mix of men and women) seemed to be having a great time and people were laughing and talking normally not in a hushed way as one critic has remarked. It was nice that the tables were not squished together either so you could have a conversation without being overheard if you wanted to.

The icing on the cake was being given a tour of the kitchen. One of the waiters first told us that if we had a problem with one of the dishes, we were welcome to discuss it with Marcus in the kitchen which we thought was a joke but it turned out that most of the other tables were going in for a tour so we did the same after we had finished our tasting courses which really was a great experience for us because we love all that! I think Marcus had left at that point since it was quite late but we had seen him approving the food at the pass earlier in the evening so it was good to know that he was actually working that night. Most of the staff were cleaning up when we went in but some of the desserts were still being served so we did get a glimpse of how things work and got to speak to some of the staff. We also had a long chat with one of the senior waiters/sommelier which was really interesting. He was very friendly and kept apologising for the fact that not much was going on in the kitchen and next time we should be given a tour earlier in the evening to see the proper action.

We arrived at 8.15pm and had the table for the whole evening, there was no 2 hour sitting which some other restaurants have which was good since we could then really enjoy the experience. A 2 hour sitting would have made our experience really rushed. There was one or two empty tables when we were there, I'm not sure whether that was because the customers had come and gone or whether they had been booked and cancelled but I was quite surprised. It may be worth calling last minute to get a table if you're having trouble booking.

The bill came to just over £400 all in, incredibly expensive and more than we were expecting to spend but that was down to us getting carried away, we'd be a lot more restrained ordering wine next time which would have reduced our bill considerably. I would definitely go for the tasting menu again tho.

All in all a really magical, special and unforgettable evening for a special occasion which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone. Will definitely be back as soon as I can (after a lot of saving!).
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Annie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 15, 2009